On Thursday, Phalodi — a city in the western Indian state of Rajasthan — recorded a searing temperature of 51 degrees Celsius (124 degrees Fahrenheit). This was the highest temperature ever recorded in the country, besting the 50.6 degrees Celsius (123 degrees Fahrenheit) recorded in the city of Alwar in 1956...

While May and June have historically been the hottest months in the country, this year, many regions have recorded temperatures of over 104 degrees Fahrenheit — triggering a severe heat wave and causing a drought that has affected over a quarter of the India’s 1.25 billion population